Quinta da Regaleira: Occult Initiation Wells Steeped in Mysticism

A stone’s throw from the beautiful Palace of Sintra stands another UNESCO World Heritage Site – the opulent Quinta da Regaleira, an altogether more mysterious place that was completed in 1910. Once owned by the wealthy entomologist António Augusto Carvalho Monteiro (under whose tensure it was known somewhat less tastefully as The Palace of Monteiro the Millionaire), the Quinta da Regaleira is considered one of the most important cultural landmarks of Sintra, a town in the Lisbon District of Portugal. And for good reason. Along with its many decorative structures, lakes, grottos and tunnels, two mysterious wells that better resemble inverted subterranean towers than water sources sit steeped in mysticism.

It’s perhaps not surprising, then, that these wells serve no practical purpose at all; at least not in the traditional sense. The Quinta da Regaleira‘s two inverted towers are known as initiation wells, which were used for ceremonial purposes, as well as mysterious initiation rites for practitioners of the tarot. Other sources also mention a masonic connection.

The initiation wells are at once eerie and compelling. The largest of the two reaches 27 metres below ground and is accessed by a spiral staircase. Penetrating deep into the bedrock, the stone steps serve several small landings, spaced apart at a distance understood to correspond to tarot mysticism. In the smaller, ‘Unfinished Well’, a straight stone staircase provides access to the landings, while subterranean passageways connect the two structures.

Damp, mysterious, covered in moss and steeped in mysticism, the breathtaking architecture of these so-called initiation wells are a must-see for visitors to the region, and not just those with an interest in the occult.

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